1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaner, and more particularly to, traveling equipment for a cleaner which can raise user's convenience and realize the simplicity of components.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, a cleaner serves to remove dust or foreign material put in set areas such as a living room, room, etc. by using a motor for converting electric energy into kinetic energy and a fan mounted to the motor and for generating a suction force while rotating.
The cleaner commonly includes a main body part for generating a suction force, a head part connected to the main body part and for sucking foreign material on a surface to be cleaned, and a handle part for handling the motion of the head part. The cleaner is classified into various types according to the arrangement and construction of the main body part, head part and handle part.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating one example of an upright vacuum cleaner.
As illustrated therein, the upright vacuum cleaner comprises a head part 100, a main body part 200 connected to the head part 100 in vertical direction, and a handle part 300 consecutively connected to the main body part 200. The head part 100 is provided with traveling equipment incorporating traveling wheels.
The traveling equipment includes a traveling shaft (not shown) rotatably mounted to the head part 100, traveling wheels 110 coupled to both opposite ends of the traveling shaft, a power transmission means for transmitting a power of a main motor (not shown) constituting the main body part 200 to the traveling shaft, and a rotation direction conversion means for selectively converting a direction of a torque transmitted by the power transmission means.
The rotation direction conversion means is constructed of a mechanism incorporating a clutch operated by handling of the handle part 300.
The main motor is connected to a fan (not shown) for generating a suction force, and rotates in only one direction.
In the upright vacuum cleaner as set forth above, when a power is supplied by pressing an operating button, a suction force is generated while the fan is rotating along with the operation of the main motor constituting the main body part 200, and foreign material such as dust or dirt is sucked through the head part 100 by the suction force generated from the main body part 200.
At the same time, a driving force of the main motor is transmitted to the traveling shaft and traveling wheels 110 through the power transmission means to thus rotate the traveling wheels 110. The traveling wheels 110 normally rotates and reversely rotates with the torque transmitted from the main motor being converted using the rotation direction conversion means. The rotation direction conversion means is handed by using the handle part 300.
With the normal rotation or reverse rotation of the traveling wheels 100, the cleaner moves forward or backward to thus suck foreign material such as dust or dirt place on the floor face through the head part 100. The user carries out a cleaning by adjusting the traveling direction while holding the handle part 300 in a standing posture without bending the waist.
The forward and backward movement of the traveling equipment for the cleaner during the forward and backward movement of the cleaner will now be explained more concretely.
FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating the forward operating state of conventional traveling equipment.
As illustrated therein, in case the traveling equipment makes a forward move, the user firstly pushes parts of the handle part 300 in a downward direction. When parts of the handle part 300 are pushed downward, a first connecting rod 121 connected to the handle part 300 is pushed downward. As the first connecting rod 121 is pushed down, a second connecting rod 122 hingeably coupled with the first connecting rod 121 is moved to thus move a first friction clutch 123 connected to the second connecting rod 122 to the left. As the first friction clutch 123 is moved to the left, the first friction clutch 123 is tightly contacted with a first friction disc 124 disposed at the left of the first friction clutch 123. And a second friction clutch 125 integral with the first friction clutch 123 is separated from the second friction disc 126 disposed at the right thereof.
In this state, a torque of the main motor 210 is transmitted to an intermediate rotary shaft 127 by a belt 220, and a torque of the intermediate rotary shaft 127 is transmitted to the traveling shaft 128 and the left traveling wheel 111 through the first friction clutch 123, first friction disc 124 and first gear box B1.
FIG. 3 is a side view illustrating a gear train constituting a first gear box.
As illustrated therein, when the first friction clutch 123 is tightly contacted to the first friction disc 124, a torque of the intermediate rotary shaft 127 is transmitted to the traveling shaft 128 through a first gear 131, a second gear 132 engaging with the first gear 131 and a third gear 133 engaging with the second gear 132 by means of the first friction disc 124. By this, the traveling wheels 110 coupling to the traveling shaft 128 normally rotate.
FIG. 4 is a front view illustrating the backward operating state of the conventional traveling equipment.
As illustrated therein, in case the traveling equipment makes a backward move, the user firstly pulls parts of the handle part 300 in an upward direction. When parts of the handle part 300 are pulled upward, the first connecting rod 121 connected to the handle part 300 is pushed upward. As the first connecting rod 121 is pushed upward, the second connecting rod 122 hingeably coupled with the first connecting rod 121 is moved to thus move the second friction clutch 125 connected to the second connecting rod 122 to the right. As the second friction clutch 125 is moved to the right, the second friction clutch 125 is tightly contacted with the second friction disc 126 disposed at the right of the second friction clutch 125. And the first friction clutch 123 integral with the second friction clutch 125 is separated from the first friction disc 124 disposed at the left of the first friction clutch 123.
In this state, a torque of the main motor 210 is transmitted to the intermediate rotary shaft 127 by the belt 220, and a torque of the intermediate rotary shaft 127 is transmitted to the traveling shaft 128 and the right traveling wheel 112 through the second friction clutch 125, second friction disc 126 and second gear box B2.
FIG. 5 is a side view illustrating a gear train constituting a second gear box.
As illustrated therein, when the second friction clutch 125 is tightly contacted to the second friction disc 126, a torque of the intermediate rotary shaft 127 is transmitted to the traveling shaft 128 through a fourth gear 134, a fifth gear 135 engaging with the fourth gear 134 and a sixth gear 136 engaging with the fifth gear 135 and a seventh gear 137 engaging with the sixth gear 136 by means of the second friction disc 126. By this, the traveling wheels 110 coupling to the traveling shaft 128 reversely rotate.
However, since the aforementioned conventional traveling equipment for the cleaner is arranged to move forward or backward by handling the handle part 300 when a user carries out a cleaning using the cleaner, forward and backward moves are continuously made iteratively when doing the cleaning while moving back and forth in a given area, thereby causing inconvenience to the user.
Besides, the assembling productivity is low due to a large number of components and complexity, and the manufacturing cost is high.